54 Responses to “Russian Kids Playgrounds”

We are tough because playgrounds are usually like war zones. Even the nicest neighborhood’s playground is like a kids’ ghetto. We stick in groups and protect our playground from the kids from other streets and playgrounds. Teenagers usually bully the younger kids, but in the end everybody sticks together if “outside kids” gang up against us. It was definitely fun growing up in that atmosphere. There was always something to do with your friends, tons of games, fights and other fun stuff kids should be doing. Prepares you for the real world pretty well. Not like in US where middle-class kids grow up to be bunch of pussies.

[...] As interesting as these images of Russian playgrounds are, what’s more interesting is that the typical North American response seems to be a mix of fear and revulsion. To me, these playgrounds are bizarre, intriguing and challenging — not unlike childhood. [...]

yeah, lovely monsters adopted for children) to be honest, when i was a child i didnt use to think much of their beauty, they are great to climb at! that was the main thing for me and didnt influence my insider world in any way, really))

Looks like some fine chain saw art scupting in and among other wonderful objects! You might like my USA Southwestern chain saw art! I myself come from an age when playground equipment was made out of plain, honest iron-colored iron! None of this cheap colorful plastics junk! Nor were we protected within an inch of our lives — when we take my granddaughter to the playground these days, swings are protected by what look like cages… seesaws? long gone. No way to raise kids able to look out for themselves!

Dear Olga!
I am not talking about the monsters on the playground. I am talking about the playground itself. Plus you are a girl, so you never got involved into boys stuff, and your parents only allowed you to play Rubber Bands and Jump Rope next to the building.

Oh come on, Russ. Not all neighborhoods are that bad. At least in Moscow and major cities.

And I would`nt say that American kids grow up in a nice environoment. Just like here, US is different in different parts – it`s not Beverly Hills all over. There are districts where poor people live. There are trailer parks. I believe their ghettos are much worse than our average “unsafe” residental suburb.
After all, this whole “youth gang” thing originates not from USSR, but from US.

Some of them seem to be the figures from old Russian TV cartoons. For example, on the last photo, the guy with the accordion seems to be the Crocodile Gienia – a wise crocodile that smoked a pipe, lived in a flat and had as a friend that little guy on the right. Here they are in the white color version only but in the cartoon they had been colored.

the last one is crocodile gena (on the left) and Cheburashka (on the right) and the little one seems to be Cheburashka too(the little white one with big ears). wikipedia article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_Gena

well I’d rather agree with Acts_of_Atrocity, not all russian playgrounds are that skary, most of them are just normal typical playgrounds without such masterpieces of art shown in these photos. To be sinscere, when I was a little girl I used to communicate with boys much more and “boys’ stuff”…i dont remember being beaten or whatever..or gangs..maybe i’m lucky but we didnt have all that stuff indeed

The picture with the bear and the “samurai”. Are you kidding me? Samurai look nothing like that. It’s just a wizard with a sword. Is that so wrong?

The mermaid with breasts comment only means that you’re from a country where such things are looked down upon. In europe however, breasts are not as taboo as they are in the US.

The pig with obsenities… Well, you should read some of the stuff written on my middle school desk, it’s not any better.

The shy little thingy, also seen on the right in the last picture is a popular children’s cartoon character. To the left of him (in the last picture) is a crocodile named Gyena (hard g) who is playing the accordion.

The scary wooden rabbit and people without heads have no evidence of being anywhere near a playground, more like a random field.

I definitely wouldn’t say American kids grow up without conflict. I lived in a motel and kids from the trailer park used to come over and try to invade the family trash pile. My cousins and I would try fighting them off with machetes and rusty saw blades, but the little hellions had sling shots. We were outgunned.

It’s more like a playground/artistic exhibition. I live in France and in my city there’s a kid playground made with bigs colorful cows built by a well known artist.
Some kids are afraid of it but it’s really nice

I grew up in a former socialist country and was very familiar with Russian fairy tales and TV cartoons. The rabbit holding a football is not a wolf-rabbit, looks like a Zayats (rabbit) from Ny Pogodi. Dragon, bear, mermaid, Kashei, Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka – some are villains and some are not, but definitely not freaky at all. I don’t think kids will find these figures scary – because they all know what they represent. Of course I can see wear and tear and decay on these things, but I find it amuzing how Americans would look down on them just because they’re different from what they’re accustomed to.

Thank you for the pictures of the playgrounds! It’s become out of style to have characters as part of the playgrounds (I only see it here in an old park that was built in the 1960s). Just a few questions: it looks like the mermaid isn’t by swings but rather by a see-saw (the Russian word for see-saw, doska-kacheli, is similar to swings). And wouldn’t a rabbit that turns into a wolf at midnight be a were-rabbit, or would that have to be a rabbit that turns into a wolf at the full moon?

[...] Just saw this on Digg – “Creepy Russian kids’ playgrounds“. Honestly, I don’t see what’s so creepy about them. It actually looks really nice to me, almost like art (especially the dragon thing). It’s just old and grungy looking (I suppose that’s where “creepy” comes from). However, it also looks dangerous for young kids to play on. Adding some wood chips or something below it, even plain old sand, would be great. I think that the fact that these pictures are pretty low-res are also a reason that they look so bad. There’s pixelation all over them. I’m sure sharper pictures wouldn’t exactly work wonders, but it would allow you to see them more realistically. [...]

Interesting blend of artistic figures and play equipment. “Figure” structures on North American playgrounds tend to be cars or sea serpents, etc., not this broader range of totems. Pictures of a lot of playgrounds in the U.S. are located in a Playspace Directory tool on the kaboom.org Web site, but few pictures like this, because there aren’t many things like this on American playgrounds!

Just wanted to add… The comments under each picture are rude. If you do not accept a different culture, do not travel there. I live in the States, and I love it here. However, understand me right, a year ago, a playground that I used to take my child to was burned by someone. Someone actually started a fire on the playground. So, don’t make fun of the playgrounds from different countries, look at not as great yourselves.
Russia is a beautiful country with great and not so great people just like everywhere else.

Oh God, I remember these little uglies from my childhood. I loved them.
There was built the village on the playground where I played as a kid (5 or 6 small wooden houses). We liked to play there. But my fav was a huge wooden Zmey Gorynych (Russian fairy tale dragon with three heads), about twice as big as a grown-up man, and really tricky to climb on.

Actually I never could climb on the highest meadle head, since I was only 3 or 4 y/o, and before I managed to accomplish that task we moved to another city. I was SO dissapointed. God, I still remember that huge beast.

i love thes picturs thay remind me of my grand fathers story’s growing up in the old comunist russia. it’s funny to read all the amararican responces, and how shocking it is to them, just becaus its diferent. i live in Canada where every one is diferent so new culturs and bilife’s are comon but US ignorance and arogance is nothing new

This is nothing, I’m an American and there’s a park where I grew up in Florida called War Veterans Memorial Park and in it they have an actual tank from one of the world wars that kids are allowed to play on and it’s still there today. Top that!

There is nothing scary about these playgrounds. Everyone knows who the figures are, and the cartoons and movies they are from. It’s sad to see so many Americans be so rude. Americans never understand different culctures. The reason for this is that the USA payed Gorbachev millions, making him rich and everyone else poor.

[...] A photo gallery of decrepit playground equipment in bitterly cold Russian playgrounds. Even though this one-off stuff is nightmarishly creepy I prefer it to the bland factory-produced equipment found in US playgrounds. Tags: Playground, Russian Did you enjoy this article? Share it! [...]